The OpenStreetMap data are processed from planet.osm.bz2 file monthly. The process is two stage - first convert planet in smaller tiles. Then country by country is extracted and converted to MCA files (on several machines). The order is alphabetical except first few countries, used for for quick process check and balanced load. We could use download statistics (and we are partially using it), but maybe there are some other preferences? Please let us know, which maps should be by your opinion converted with higher priority.thank you Martinp.s. add only separate regions as you can download them, i.e. USA/California, or Germany/North ... and add vote if they are already mentioned.

If it's possible to create a count of the number of users downloading each map area after each update, then process the next batch of updates based the ranking of highest number of downloads to the lowest.

In other words , the area with highest number of users has the highest priority. That way you're responding to the demand of users in each map area in a fair way ( in my humble opinion ). If you satisfy the greatest number of users it is likely that your software will be recommended to more new users. I think it would also increase the number of users involved with the free Open Street Mapping project.

Thanks and keep up the good work. Even if other users don't agree with what I've wrtten above, they must all agree with my final point.

I agree with your 1st criteria but the others are surely based on opinions and feelings. By using the download stats would rank the maps with the highest demand first and would therefore satisfy the largest group of users. if that means that I personally have to wait longer to receive my updates so be it.

Alternatively, if it must be based on opinions then the maps should be processed based on the results of the Eurovision Song Contest ??????? (Only Joking)

I agree with riccie in 1. and 4.Strong tourism is a relative option. If there's no massive download or a lot of change, why they should be updated?Although I'm german, why Germany should be preferred, if it doesn't get higher priority from criteria 1 and 4?

But also all other countries/regions should be updated in a maximum fixed period.

OK, I should probably stop this discussion ;) ... my original idea was that there are some countries, which are statistically "not interesting", but many people need update for that country ASAP. As the conversion is sometimes failing (boundary issues, etc.) we are not always fixing everything. Note also issue with time required for conversion - for example France takes several days (we may have to split it as Germany) so it is reasonable to start rather sooner. On the other hand some small regions are completed within couple minutes. So if your country is not mentioned here just add it, so we can check that it is regularly updated ...thanks Martin

ad 4. countries with large (absolute, relative) data increase during last updates.... well yes, but this is something I find out _after_ I process the country ... or is there some website, I should watch?

I’m not sure whether I’m too late to join this discussion. Nevertheless, I will express my opinion (well, it’s rather a suggestion) here.

I live in Sri Lanka. This map should definitely be one of the least complete maps in OSM. On the other hand I think it might be one of the smallest (in .mca file size I mean) country maps, compared to the others (please correct me if I’m wrong).

I’ve been adding a lot of missing roads lately and I’ve noticed that there are few others updating it regularly. Therefore my suggestion is… if maps like these won’t take much time to render, can those be updated more regularly?

Just a suggestion… open for discussion. :-)

By the way, I totally admire this whole project and all the people who spent their precious time over it.

Can't you use http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Planet.osm/diffs to monitor the data increase between map updates?Maybe you can even use the diffs to make map updates faster and less hardware intensive (incorporating only the differences, not building the map from scratch)?

Hi Bodypilot,currently the planet.osm updates are quite irregular. We will see after the license process is finished. Up-to-now it was easier for us to do it from the whole planet, but it can change one day and we will use diffs instead.thanks Martin

Hello everybody,just a note if you would like "priority update", or rather "release candidate" maps, since Android version 0.13.8 you can check in Settings/Advanced/Early maps access. There is also new dialog for rating new (less than week old) maps, so there is a chance to block/comment bad map update. Martinp.s. APK download links are on Android FAQ page ...